Some 60 million magnetic-stripe ATM and debit cards issued by local commercial banks and circulating in the market will be upgraded to chip-embedded cards by the end of 2019, says a senior central bank official.

An estimated 90% of ATMs nationwide will support chip-embedded cards by May 16, but the machines still support magnetic-stripe cards for those who hold only that type, said Tongurai Limpiti, a deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand.

Thailand will emerge as the third county in Asean to have mandatory chip-embedded ATM and debit cards following Malaysia in 2004 and Singapore in 2010.

Mandatory chip-embedded card issuance for debit and ATM cards will come into effect on May 16, according to the central bank's schedule, in a bid to prevent card fraud such as ATM skimming.